The question surrounding becoming a teacher is by no means a simple one and coming from a family full of primary school teachers who adore their job it is not hard for me to idealize teaching as profession.
The choice of Primary over Secondary is also something I am often asked; although this choice for me was simple; I enjoy working with children under twelve; I know how to deal with their various issues; I find them enjoyable to work with; I don’t have the capacity to work with teenagers. Being someone who never earned a detention in secondary school, I fail to fully understand or appreciate the need for teenage rebellion and I have little desire to spend my life telling year 9 girls to to wipe their make up off.
The only two secondary school teachers in my family also have come to hate the profession (though I know this can be the case with Primary aswell); they hate the long hours, the constant scrutiny and teaching pupils who don’t want to be there.
I also sit next to a primary teacher in my band who feels the need to consistently remind me what a ‘God awful’ profession it is and ‘It must be your calling because why else would you want to do it?’ I mostly ignore this, I come to band to play the cornet not question my life choices. At times like this I like to remind myself that there are moaners in all professions, this not exclusive to teaching.
The primary school teachers in my family from NQTs right through to retired are full of wonderful anecdotes I am lucky to have such a great support network. When my auntie (a retired SEN teacher) found out that I passed both my skills tests first time she bought me a gorgeous Michael Morpurgo book, “where my wellies take me” which has already sparked many ideas.
It was probably my uncle that inspired me the most to become a teacher; a retired headteacher of a small catholic school. I was privileged to attend his retirement mass a few years ago. The church was absolutely packed, I had never seen so many children in a church in my life. There were was lots of singing from the school choir, poetry and tears (and pictures of my uncle on zip wires from various PGLs). My Uncle always got ‘stuck in’ and loved nothing more than to take over the occasional PE lesson. I remember a child asking him, ‘Mr Atherton, do you have to retire can’t you just work until you die?’
My uncle was the first person put the idea into my head of becoming a primary school teacher. When I was younger up until the age of around thirteen I wanted to become an actress, i wasn’t particularly brilliant at acting but I just enjoyed drama, it made me feel confident; I loved the feeling that comes from weeks of rehearsals coming together to create a finished piece and the buzz of adrenaline just before going out on stage. I later enjoyed studying musical theatre at college and by participating in shows I made lasting memories.
I still love drama but I started to think of it more of a hobby than a potential career path; I was fifteen when my uncle suggested teaching, though I had pondered the idea briefly before. For some reason he thought I would make a good teacher. Since the age of 10 I had been helping out at my local Rainbow and Brownie groups and various ‘kids’ clubs at the community farm where my dad works; so I knew that I enjoyed working with children. I thought that I would take this idea forward and get some experience within schools.
Work experience at my primary school with year 2 and A year’s worth of volunteering in another local school with reception and year 1 and later year 5 was affirmation enough that this was the career for me.
And so here I am in my first year as a trainee teacher at Edge Hill! Hopefully exciting times are ahead.
Becoming a Primary School Teacher 